Gallup recently asked citizens in every state if, given the opportunity, they would like to move to a different state. The results: 33% of the residents polled would prefer to get the hell out of their current state, including roughly half of the residents in Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland.

State pride (or at least contentedness) ran deeper in Montana, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Texas, where less than a quarter of those polled showed a desire to leave. Here’s a quick roundup of the states where residents would most/least like to leave:

GALLUP

Here’s a map showing the results for all 50 states (data was not collected in Washington D.C.):

GALLUP

The map above represents people who would prefer to leave, given the opportunity. But what about people who already have one foot out the door? Gallup also asked residents how likely it is that they will move in the next 12 months, and found that Nevada residents showed the greatest intention to leave while Maine, Iowa, and Vermont residents plan to stay put. Here’s the leader/loser board:

GALLUP

Gallup plans to follow up on this poll in the near future with data revealing where all of these likely movers are actually heading.

Maryland is one of those lovely states to live in where Baltimore and the D.C. corridor are the major population centers and most Democratic while the surrounding counties are much more rural and Republican. The result is a relatively small area of the state being able to dictate policy for much larger portions of the state while not sharing much in the way of common interests. This breeds a lot of resentment. Cultrally, there is also a significant divide between Baltimore/Annapolis and the very rurual counties West and North and the farmers on the Eastern Shore. People are regularly proposing dividing the state into 3 separate states. While I don’t think people trully understand the ramifications of what they are asking for, I can’t disagree that we need to consider sub-dividing a number of the states in the union just based on government representation per citizen.

In addition to your (very valid and entirely true) observations, you also have to figure that Maryland is where you live if you work in/near DC and can’t afford the A) suburban hell of Northern VA or B) outrageously expensive parts of DC that are not a demilitarized zone. So there are a lot of Maryland residents enviously eyeing the (marginally better) options on the other side of the river or in the District.

Come to North Carolina and you’ll discover a new conservative paradise. No gay marriage? Yep. Have they made it more difficult for minorities and college students to vote? You bet! Are senatorial primary candidates campaigning on a platform that includes ineffectually repealling the affordable health care act? You know it!

I enjoy visiting Asheville because I love the mountains and like seeing self righteous hipsters play hackey sack with cops (Ive visited twice and have literally witnessed this both times). But I could never live there because of said self righteous hipsters

I have visited Asheville a few times and If you are a beer enthusiast/brewer like myself you have to love Asheville. Nice little restaurants with in house brewed beer everywhere. There are a lot of places in Asheville that brew beer, and that my friends, is what makes a place for me.
I love where I live Chattanooga, TN, it is slowly turning into an Asheville like city. But if you think Asheville is a bad right wing state, you should check us out.
If the south is the bible belt, we are the fucking buckle.

NJ is the worst. Small business is impossible with all the fees and taxes. I buy a tree, pay the sales tax. I plant the tree, now my client has to pay sales tax again. Made a $0.35 math error on a 1/4ly report and had to pay $100.39. Shoobies suck too

I’m surprised Nebraska isn’t higher. People always complain about having nothing to do here and our property taxes are really high. Then again, I wouldn’t move, so maybe my whole state is just made up of shruggers.

The only people who *don’t* want to leave IL, MD, and CT are working for (or siphoning off) the oppressive governments in those socialist republics. I’ve lived in all three, and wouldn’t go back for anything.

Also: Nevada is so transient, those numbers should skew even higher just based on normal migration patterns. Add in the second-worst real estate crash and the unstable Vegas job market and they could achieve 100% turnover one of these years.

My wife and I who are happy as clams living in downtown Chicago and we are neither working for or siphoning from local or state government. Our friends are in the same boat (except those who are teachers). Not everyone wants to live in a culturally-barren land of suburban sprawl and strip malls just to have plenty of space to complain about ‘Murican gubment.

@Paul – Exactly. The Gold Coast is ritzy, and the inner lake suburbs are fine, but that’s like saying living in Malibu is the same experience as living in Compton — or that living in the East Seventies is the same experience as living in Bed-Stuy.

The Gold Coast is terrible for anything other than shopping and restaurants. The inner suburbs are also terrible because, well, they are suburbs. The best places to live are areas like Wicker Park, Logan Square, and the Ukranian Village. These are urban areas with quiet residential areas, within walking distance of fantastic restaurants and easy access to multiple forms of public transit.

I will never understand how people can live in those flyover states that they all seem content to live in according to this poll. Also, we give Florida shit a lot, but where are you gonna go? Low taxes, warm weather, and beaches aren’t enough for you?

Well, lumping all the “flyover” states into one monolithic bucket will lead you to some inaccurate conclusions.
Putting Colorado and Ohio into the same category for instance. Have you been to Denver? It’s one of the nicest cities in the US and is sunnier than southern California. There’s not coast, but there are mountains.
Not sure I get WV though.

@Marino – It gets warm earlier, but here on the Gulf side it’s not as hot as it is almost anywhere else south of NYC or east of Denver. We rarely get higher than 90, and there’s a light cloud cover that moderates the heat.

The gulf breezes and frequent rain make the summers pretty easy to manage, plus it doesn’t smell as nasty in the heat as NYC, Philly, Balto, Chi-town, St. Louis, you name it. I was in Midtown Manhattan last August and I almost lost my lunch from the funky air.

As a person who lives in Illinois, I can say this poll makes total sense. I stay because of work obligations. Crook County and Chiraq are the worst. Rahm Emanuel is a closet Republican. And a complete asshole. High taxes, corrupt politicians (“Welcome to Illinois- where are governors make our license plates…”).

Do you actually live in the city? The violence is bad but is almost exclusively isolated to areas with gang turf wars. It is a major problem that needs attention, but a good portion of the city is safe as can be. Not Manhattan safe, but as safe as my original hometown (40K in central Missouri).

Anyone who complains about Chicago should try living in Baltimore for a while. I went to school in Chicago (lived in the Lincoln Park area) and then had to move to Baltimore for work. The first few months was the most depressing of my life (South Baltimore has since grown on me, but now I live in the ‘Burbs).

@Boris Yes I did. I’m a proud former resident of the “med students and junkies” sector (yay gentrification!). I later moved to the “frat boys and sorostitutes” area, because I found them to be far less annoying than finding real-life Johnny Weeks passed out on the sidewalk in front of my rowhouse, or real-life Ziggy Sobotka selling meth and oxy across the street.

@SuperGrover:
Yes, I live in Chicago, on the southwest side. Chicago leads the US in homicides. Our fearless Mayor and his yes-man police Superintendent (from NJ no less) continue to cut back on our police force and dole out OT to the rest to try and keep this Titanic they call a city from imploding. Chicago is widely believed to be the next Detroit and go bankrupt.

I will be long gone (most likely dead) by the time Chicago gets to anything like Detroit. Unlike Detroit we don’t have our entire economic future dependent upon a single industry.

As for homicides, I know that Chicago leads the country in total count. As stated though, the overwhelming majority are due to gang turf wars. Yes those are societal problems that need to be fixed but to act like the majority of Chicago is dangerous is simply inaccurate.

I have no idea how old you are, but Chicago is cruising right into Detroitland, whether you’ll be here or not for it is not for me to say. WIth a continuing pension crisis, our bond rating dropping every year, politicians who continue to sell off this city piece by piece to line their own pockets, it makes no difference whether we rely on a “single industry” or not.

I read earlier that you live in WIcker Park, which is interesting; since it used to be one of those areas that had gang turf wars (which you seem to have a great interest in) as well as a huge drug problem that continues CITYWIDE to this day.

Chicago is a major hub for drug-traffiicking. Ever hear of the Sinoloa cartel? “El Chapo” Guzman?

Really don’t understand it. I’ve been living in CT my whole life, a lot longer than most of these whiners. If you don’t like it, then get the hell out. It’s a beautiful state, with great things to see, do, places to live. The weather won’t try to kill you 4 seasons of the year. I don’t mind paying taxes to keep my standard of living high.